Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the accusers in the cases of Warren Blackwell and Leslie Warren are being treatedas victims by the criminal cases compensation authority in the payment of compensation.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: A DNA sample taken from a victim of rape for elimination purposes would normally be kept until the end of a trial. It may then be destroyed. The DNA profile from the sample cannot be loaded on to the National DNA Database unless the victim has given specific written consentfor this.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Department for Transport commissioned research from ICE Ergonomics Ltd to compare the relative conspicuity of flashing and non-flashing cycle lamps.
	The research concluded that, while flashinglamps do not improve conspicuity relative to steady lamps, neither do they impair it. Following public consultation, an amendment was made in 2005 to the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 to permit the use of flashing lamps on pedal cycles.
	The revised edition of the Highway Code, due to be issued in mid-2007, will refer to the use of flashing lamps on pedal cycles, explaining that they are permitted, but recommending that, where there are no street lights, a steady light be used at the front of a pedal cycle.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: At present, the planning for the enrolment network for the national identity register remains at a high level and on a national basis. Detailed planning for implementation at individual locations will take place in due course. However, the Identity and Passport Service is already putting in place an extended local office network in order to meet and interview first-time applicants for passports and to prepare for recording biometrics for passports and identity cards in due course. This network consists of 69 offices throughout the UK in the following proposed locations:
	Aberdeen, Aberystwyth, Andover, Armagh, Barnstaple, Belfast, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Birmingham, Blackburn, Boston, Bournemouth, Bristol, Bury St. Edmunds, Camborne, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Coleraine, Crawley, Derby, Dover, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Galashiels, Glasgow, Hastings, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Kendal, Kilmarnock, King's Lynn, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Luton, Maidstone, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Newport, Newport (Isle of Wight), Northallerton, Northampton, Norwich, Oban, Omagh, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Scarborough, Shrewsbury, Sheffield, St Austell, Stirling, Stoke-on-Trent, Swansea, Swindon, Warwick, Wick, Wrexham, Yeovil and York.
	These offices will open in 2007 and the local office network will subsequently be used as the basis forthe national identity scheme. Where the network of enrolment centres needs to be further expanded, we will first seek to use high street offices that are already used by central and local government. We will also look at options for the private sector providing outlets. The extent to which this will be done and the offices involved will be determined following further analysis of the needs of the scheme.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: It is currently planned that the first identity cards will be issued to British citizens in 2009. However, those applying to renew British passports will be required to provide information for registration on the national identity register only once a passport becomes a designated document under Section 4of the Identity Cards Act 2006. No precise date has yet been set for the designation of a passport which would be subjectto secondary legislation under the Identity CardsAct 2006.

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Oldham on 22 January (WA 206), in whatway the 10 Millennium Commission documents destroyed in the Iron Mountain fire in July 2006 contained references to the Millennium Dome;and with what subjects those documents were concerned.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Information about the potential for radioactive contamination to have been buried under a specific part of the Olympic Park site is referred to in an internal memo by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority in 1972, following information received from the London Borough of Newham. The memo referred to "radioactive material" of,
	"brickwork, metal etc. from a local factory contaminated by an isotope of Thorium with some derivatives",
	buried in 40 gallon drums, with an attached plan showing an "approximate" position in an area formerly used as a waste tip area.
	A 1994 study (by WS Atkins on behalf of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority) was commissioned to assess radiological contamination risk in a small area of the Eastway Cycle Circuit identified in the 1972 memo. This concluded that there was no positive indication of the existence of the reported levels of buried radioactive material. The only elevated levels of radioactive activity were localised and attributed to the presence of varying lumps of granite and fuel ash.
	The results of the 1994 survey were provided to HM Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) and theHealth and Safety Executive (HSE). Both organisations reviewed the findings and neither identifies the need for further work.
	When this information came to light in July 2006 the London Development Agency reviewed all of the documentation available including the report and correspondence mentioned above and consulted the borough environmental health officer and the Health and Safety Executive, both of whom were satisfied that no immediate action was required. At the point when this area needs to be disturbed for remediation purposes the Health and Safety Executive and other regulatory bodies will be consulted. This work is not scheduled to happen until after July 2007.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The findings from the action research, which was the first stage of the evaluation strategy for the North-West Offender Management Pathfinder, have already been published and are available on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsoir3205.pdf.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: It is not possible to put a figure on the number of vulnerable women in prison. There are women in prison who may be considered vulnerable for a number of reasons, such as mental health problems, drug addiction, histories of abuse and victimisation or who are at risk of self-harm or suicide.
	The Government want to ensure that custody is used only for women offenders who really need to be there because of the seriousness of their offending or because they present a risk. That is why we are taking forward the women's offending reduction programme which focuses on improving community-based services and interventions to support greater use of community sentences wherever possible. This includes the £9.15 million we are investing in new initiativesto demonstrate how an integrated multi-agency approach in the community can be more effective at tackling the multiple needs of women offenders and avoid the use of custody.
	The noble Baroness, Lady Corston, is completing her Review of Women in the Criminal Justice System with Particular Vulnerabilities which may suggest further action that could be taken to prevent women with vulnerabilities ending up in prison.

Lord Marlesford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the photographs of Jason Croft and Michael Nixon, who absconded from Sudbury open prison, which were released to the media on5 January, met Home Office quality standards specified for photographs of convicted prisoners; and, if so, what steps they propose to raise the quality of such photographs.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: A regulatory impact assessment (RIA) on the SIA licence fee was published on 12 January. The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is expected to be self-funding through the income received from licence fees.
	The proposed new licence fee of £245 is an increase of 29 per cent over the current fee of £190, and was calculated by the SIA on the basis of the forecast licensable population and operational expenditurefor 2007-08 and 2008-09. The SIA has reduced its costs—for example, by reducing its workforce by30 per cent and moving to new, cheaper offices. The SIA's cost-saving measures have reduced the initial fee increase forecast of £281 by £36 to £245.
	The proposed fee increase is conditional uponthe making of a Section 102 order under the Finance (No. 2) Act 1987, followed by the appropriate negative regulations under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. The updated regulatory impact assessment on the SIA licence fee increase can be found on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ria-sia-industry-licence-fee/.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The 29 per cent proposed increase in the SIA's licence fee from £190 to £245 was announced on 12 January. It is intendedthat the increase will come into force from 6 April, conditional upon the making of the necessary secondary legislation. This will be the first increase in the SIA licence fee since the SIA was set up nearly four years ago. The proposed increase takes into account inflation over the last three years and the next two years, the latest estimates about the SIA's expenditure and the size of the licensable population.
	It is considered that in terms of overall costs of licensing this fee increase does not impose a disproportionate burden on the industry. Further information about the SIA licence fee increase can be found in the updated regulatory impact assessment on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ria-sia-industry-licence-fee/.